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September 28, 2005

Showdown coming

Howard Dean and the folks at the Washington Post are trying to make the case that a conservative political viewpoint justifies filibustering next Supreme Court nominee.

In an interview, Dean said Democratic unity is essential in the upcoming battle and that the party "absolutely" should be prepared to filibuster -- holding unlimited debate and preventing an up-or-down vote -- Bush's next high court nominee, if he taps someone they find unacceptably ideological. He cited appellate court judges Priscilla R. Owen and Janice Rogers Brown as two who would be likely to trigger such opposition.

"Those people are clearly not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure they don't," he said. "If we lose, better to go down fighting and standing for what we believe in, because we will not win an election if the public doesn't think we'll stand up for what we believe in."

An ideologue is someone who is conservative in the parlance of the Democrats. Harry Reid, for example, considers John Roberts an extreme ideologue.

"A nominee more extreme than Judge Roberts would be unacceptable to the Democratic caucus," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley, who added later: "You could expect a major fight on the Senate floor."

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), a member of the Gang of 14 who plans to vote for Roberts, said a filibuster will be warranted if "the president appoints someone who brings a right-wing ideology and is going to use the court to advance their views."

In an interview yesterday, Salazar said: "From my personal point of view, anyone who is going to be an ideologue, who is going to have right-wing views, falls within that category of extraordinary circumstances." He said that although he would attempt to defeat such a nominee by enlisting opposition among moderate Republicans, "a filibuster has to remain a procedural possibility."

Fox News is considered right-wing. I'm definitely right-wing. More than half the country hold right-wing views. I support the upcoming showdown. I think we should have it.